Thursday, October 06, 2005

Basic Guitar Chords: How to Easily Master the Guitar Chords You

By: Peter Bussey

One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar playeris learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it soimportant to learn these basic chords? Chords form thebackbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonicaccompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the mostmemorable rock riffs... think AC/DC's "Back in Black" or TheWho's "Won't Get Fooled Again". What's really amazing is that bylearning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will beequipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!

What is a Guitar Chord?

First let's establish the definition of a chord. A chord isthree or more different musical notes played together. In thecase of the guitar, this means that at least three strings arestrummed or plucked simultaneously to sound three or more notes.Since the guitar has six strings, the maximum numbers of notesin a guitar chord is six. All chords can be placed in one ofthree groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major,Minor, or Seventh. Each of these chord groups has its own"sound" or "feel". Major chords sound stable and complete. Minorchords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood, and Seventhchords are jazzy and somewhat incomplete sounding.

There is no standard list of "basic guitar chords" that everyone agrees to. However, there is general agreement that there isa list of somewhere between 8 and 18 basic guitar chords (openstring) that every guitarist must know cold. These chords areused in all musical styles from rock and pop to country, jazz,and classical. No matter where you are on your guitar-playingpath, you should take the time to learn and master the basicchords. Getting these right will ensure you have the basic toolsand skills to learn many songs and increase your playingenjoyment.

The List of Basic Guitar Chords

So what are the basic guitar chords? Our basic stable includesthe major and minor chords from four common musical keys, A,G,C,and D. They are played as "open chords", that is at least onestring in the chord is not fretted (pressed down with a finger).Open chords are easier to learn and play than more advancedchords such as Barre chords, or complex chords further up theguitar neck. Our list of basic major and minor chords is:

A Major (or A), A Minor (or Am), C, D, Dm, E, Em, F, G

These chords can be best learned as chord "families" (by key)that can be combined into great-sounding chord sequences thatmake up lots of popular songs. Using this chord family approachis much more interesting and useful than just memorizing a bunchof chords in random order!

3. Find the chords and lyrics for an easy song that isbased on the chord family so you can apply your skills. Manygreat songs are based on only three chords!

4. Ensure each string sounds right. Take care to makesure that each string is sounding clearly, and that only thestrings that should be played are played.

5. Practice, practice, practice! Every day, practicecontinually change from one chord to another until you can do itrapidly. Learn the chord families one at a time.

6. Master all the basic chords first. Only then move onto Barre chords and other more complex chords. First thingsfirst!

7. Expand with 7th chords. As a next step you can easilyexpand on your basic chord knowledge by adding 7th and minor 7thchords based on the nine basic major and minor chords.

8. Have fun using your new skills! Enjoy your musicalability by applying it to learning a small set of 5-10 songs youknow really well and can confidently play at any time.

About the author:Peter Bussey has been an avid guitar player for over 10 years.In 2004 he became Editor of The Guitar Players Toolbox, awebsite dedicated to helping advancing guitar players improvewith practical tools, tips, and information. Visithttp://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com for a variety of free,practical resources such as guitar chords, guitar chord charts,song chords, and much more.

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